Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of artists whose work is inspired by the art of the early Italian Renaissance. Rossetti's portraits are explored in this book. Examples have been drawn from the full range of Rossetti's work - including paintings, drawings, print illustrations, decorative designs and staged photographs - and chart the artist's engagement with mythology, history, literature, biblical subjects and modern life. Rossetti defined his experiences through his passion for his subjects and this book traces his deliberate intertwining of art and life. His models such as Jane Morris, Elizabeth Siddal and his sister Christina, were his inspiration and, in his rejection of conventional beauty, he redefined difference as desirable. Through his view of women - in which admiration veered towards fixation, praise towards possession - Rossetti confronted the staid 19th-century public with a new image of women. In association with the Victoria and Albert Museum.